Malayalam, a Dravidian language, is the official language of
Kerala. About 31.8 million people speak this language. There are five main regional dialects of Malayalam, along with a number of communal dialects. Many words have been borrowed from
Sanskrit. The language has 37 consonants and 16 vowels. It differs from the other Dravidian language as the personal endings on verbs are absent. It has a one-to -one correspondence with the Indo Aryan
Devanagari syllabary. Malayalam has a written tradition dating back to the late 9th century.
